Balanced Scorecard Survey

This year we were delighted to work in collaboration with 2GC on the 2014 Balanced Scorecard Survey

Balanced Scorecard Survey – 2014

Executive Summary

This year a number of respondents referred to the need to take extra care with implementing a Balanced Scorecard in order to ensure it is able to influence management decision-making behind strategic and operational success. Some quotes from respondents illustrate this:

“In its first year it has improved management alignment and focus on key issues. Has highlighted the importance of quantifying performance”;

“Balanced Scorecard drives performance to achieve a shared vision”;

“We have only been using it for a little over a year and have been finding our way
somewhat. The value has been increasing as we capture more measures and help
departments develop their lead measures. Many people don’t know what they want
until you show them something they don’t want. They also don’t see the value until it
has captured some data over time. But once you have some champions on board it
builds its own momentum”.

The highlights of this year’s findings are as follows:

Respondents from Europe are up on previous years;

Operational use of the Balanced Scorecard shows an increase, with nearly 60% of respondents mentioning this;

Quality management links have grown again this year, as has mention of internal processes which is the most used as a perspective heading, reflecting a desire to use the tool to ensure greater organisational efficiency and effectiveness in this age of economic austerity;

Actions and Behaviours are strongly influenced by the tool but 50% of respondents say that there are no consequences for missing targets – we believe a Balanced Scorecard
needs ‘teeth’! Two-thirds of respondents said that their Balanced Scorecards are linked to Planning and Budgeting processes;

The tool is seen to be ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ useful by over three-quarters of users.

The Final Report

Download a copy of the final report. Together with the executive summary opposite it contains all of the charts and graphs associated to the questions asked and a complementary analyst narrative.

Business Scorecard Survey – 2013

Now is the time for businesses and organisations of all sizes to step up to the challenge of a greater competitive marketplace and create effective strategies for growth.

Using a balanced or business scorecard will not provide the whole solution, but with it there is clear evidence that strategic management will be much more effective.

This survey was designed to examine business scorecard usage within companies and organisations to provide an insight into where and how they are used. The respondents were told this was not a survey specific to balanced scorecard usage. All scorecard types were considered valid

However, it has become clear from the results and through working with many of the respondents direct, that the methodology behind the ‘Balanced Scorecard’ as defined by Kaplan and Norton and organisations like the Balanced Scorecard Institute has become a driving force to align businesses and organisations to their strategies.

The following key points can be gleaned from this survey:

The vast majority of scorecards are still spreadsheet based.

The use of dedicated technology to manage strategy, objectives, metrics and initiatives appears to be growing.

Businesses and organisations seem to prefer to utilise methodologies as defined by Balanced Scorecard institutes to help orchestrate change in their organisations.

The number of businesses and organisations that see scorecard usage as a means to make improvements (rather than record progress) is growing.

A large number of businesses and organisations believe that the scorecard process is an instrument for strategic change.

Only a few businesses and organisations are ‘highly satisfied’ with their scorecard approach, many believe there is much room for improvement.

The results of this survey and the same survey conducted last year suggest that the use of scorecards and specifically Balanced Scorecards is seen as a positive thing. Although some respondents were frustrated with the time taken to build a scorecard regime, they all wanted the approach to succeed and saw enough benefits to persist.

It was also clear that the terminology ‘Business Scorecard’ was confusing and as such next year the survey will be renamed as a Balanced Scorecard Survey

The Final Report

Download a copy of the final report . Together with the executive summary opposite it contains all of the charts and graphs associated to the questions asked and a complementary analyst narrative.

Business Scorecard Survey – 2012

Executive Summary

The biggest challenge facing companies and organisations of all sizes today is how to drive their businesses out of the current economic recession. To do this focus has to be put on managing operational activities effectively and building and managing strategies for change.

In the past, strategic execution has not been a highly developed process for most companies and organisations. Therefore it has been difficult to manage strategic change. Although a business scorecard should not be seen as the ‘silver-bullet’ to enable strategic change it can, if implemented properly, make a real difference.

This survey was designed to examine business scorecard usage within companies and organisations to provide an insight into where and how they are used. The respondents were told this was not a survey specific to balanced scorecard usage. All scorecard types were considered valid.

The following key points can be gleaned from this survey:

Scorecards are in use across all industries. The format of the scorecards varies considerably and seems to grow through specific company/organisational need.

There is an emerging use of dedicated technology to manage strategy, objectives and KPI scorecards. However, the vast majority of scorecards are still spreadsheet based.

There are still a small number of companies/organisations that manage their strategy, objectives and scorecards using free form documentation.

The majority of scorecards are used to simply report on progress ‘up-the-chain’. In other words they are a mechanism to ensure executive management is informed about the business. Of this majority most would view scorecard management as a required task, but not one that held great importance.

Although there were no specific questions about objective and metric ownership, discussions revealed that this was the single most important contributing factor to a laissez-faire attitude toward the scorecard process, i.e. lack of ownership.

There was also, however, a large minority who believed that the scorecard process was an instrument for positive strategic change.

Over a third of the companies surveyed believed that the way in which their companies were measured could be improved; only a very small proportion was highly satisfied.

The results of this survey provide encouragement to both executive management and practitioners alike. Although there is still a majority view that things need to be measured just to monitor operations, there are areas such as the introduction of technology and scorecard use in strategic improvement that suggest more formal approaches have real value.

The Final Report

Download a copy of the final report. Together with the executive summary opposite it contains all of the charts and graphs associated to the questions asked and a complementary analyst narrative.